Mr Koh Yan Leng, NUS Associate Vice President, Campus Life has a mission to ensure that we make the best use of our lunch hour, and it all begins with an app on your smartphone.
The NUSmart Dining app, available on iTunes and Google Play, enables you to pay using your preferred e-wallet, avoid getting stuck in snaking queues at canteens by ordering in the comfort of your office, and pick up your food when you receive a notification on your mobile, or when your order number is flashed on the canteen screens.
There is also more in store with the NUSmart Dining app in a not-too-distant future which will add to a whole new dining experience at NUS:
- A multi-purpose modernised space with a central kitchen concept coupled with a huge digital interactive screen for e-sports competitions etc. (app will direct you to a facilities booking system).
- POPStation-styled food warmer lockers that keep your order warm if you do not pick up your order in time after multiple notifications on the app.
- Food delivery to your location of choice.
- Advanced information such as overcrowding at the canteen that can help you to plan ahead.
Armed with statistical data, the app also uses technology to help incentivise us to eat more healthily and improve our individual health goals. It also allows the users to link up with the Health Promotion Board app, where healthier choice selections can digitally transform into tangible rewards.
The app has since garnered 19 per cent of total users since its soft launch in mid-August and is fast gaining popularity. Feedback so far has been very positive. App users have commented that it is very useful to be able to view the full menu of each stall before even stepping into the canteen. They also enjoy a dedicated priority line over walk-in customers.
While you can currently run the app at the air-conditioned Frontier canteen at NUS Science, the scheme will be expanded in phases to cover all the canteens across campus in time. Mr Koh’s team is currently collaborating with Virtual NUS to build more technologically advanced dining spaces, with NUS Science’s Frontier 2 next in line.